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Book Review - The Apprentice - By Jaymz Sparrow |
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Written by Paul Anderson-Walsh
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Wednesday, 05 March 2008 |
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I am bold enough to assert that any queries as to where the message of God’s grace is leading us are going to be shattered by this, the third literary production of Paul Anderson-Walsh. Far from the clinical precision of his first work “The Bonsai Conspiracy”, his new work “The Apprentice” will catapult you from the child like truths of grace that were so beautifully expressed in “Safe and Sound” (his second publication and first in the series “Until Christ is formed”), deep into the mystery of union.
Here we see a new side to Paul Anderson-Walsh, his vulnerable side. To borrow his own illustration, Paul has thrown a proverbial rock through the tinted hidden pain of his own "Johari window", and invited the reader to take a peek into his very soul. Through painful introspection Paul will take the apprentice on a journey towards healing and wholeness, taking time on the way to coax the very life of Christ from the spiritual teenager, who at times may be overcome with angst.
The text itself flows with a personal touch that engenders the reader with the impression that they may just have received an instructional epistle from the greatest (or even the least) of the apostles. Paul’s ability to draw the reader into the mystery of Christ is juxtaposed by his ability to dramatiSe biblical accounts with an incredibly effective contemporary style. The account of Adam’s transformation from saint to sinner in the garden is nothing short of genius.
Perhaps the true message of this the second in Paul’s trilogy is one of a new hope. It seemed for so many of us that we had come to a place where we had received the best we could ever hope for. The notion of self living to serve Christ became a bondage beyond that which we could bare, but out of that religious paradigm comes the undiluted truth of the gospel:
“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20)
The apprentice will learn that he has become one with Christ and in Christ, and no amount of spiritual surgery or sin will ever separate him from the true vine into which he has been grafted. The apprentice is brought into the truth that he is no longer a sinner, but rather a syn-ner, a living synergy of God and man, a member of the “Immanuel” race, and through an appropriation of this truth will truly begin to walk with the nobility of one within whom the logos dwells richly, in the knowledge that he has overcome the wicked one. Add as favourites (221) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 7016
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Last Updated ( Monday, 02 June 2008 )
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